Not going to go into the validity of the product being sold on TV that's another thread entirely.

The shipping & handling scam is one of the prevalent scams within the infomercial industry. If you consider how much it actually costs to ship a product, these companies make a bundle by marking up the S&H costs. And, in a lot of cases, the shipping times are ridiculously slow considering how much is actually being paid to ship it. Most of the companies that have such horrible S&H fees and services do so in order to lessen the financial loss when a refund is initiated.

Most products that you see on TV infomercials have a “30-day Money Back Guarantee.” The “money-back guarantee” essentially means that you can get a full-refund of the product cost (less shipping) if you return the product within 30 days. The time usually starts of when shipped, not when you receive it . That means that whatever you paid for S&H will not be refunded, and furthermore, you’re liable for the expense of shipping your product back. So in some cases, you’ll be out twice the cost of shipping!

But wait!

And not only is the average cost of S&H extraordinary in this industry, but also the average shipping time painfully long. Take for example a one pound product. It costs $18.81 to ship, with an expected delivery time of 3-4 weeks. They also offer priority shipping for another $9.95, which cuts the wait to just 10 days or less.

To put that price tag in perspective, if you went to Amazon and paid $18.81 for S&H on something that weighs about a pound, you would get either overnight delivery, or 2-day delivery. The S&H policy is ludicrous, and it indicates to me that the infomercial industry probably gets a lot of refund requests, and are trying to minimize how much they have to give back by inflating the cost of S&H.

icecoldblueyes

04-26-2011, 06:18 PM

But wait.... if you call in the next 10 minutes you get, not 1 - but 2, second one is FREE, just pay additional shipping and handling.

LE_Hopeful23

04-26-2011, 07:30 PM

I was just thinking this the other day!!!

The product was one of those 'balance' necklaces or bracelets (which is completely bogus in itself) but it said 'buy one get one free' followed by 'only pay separate processing and handling' in a quick low whisper. Well the 'extra' processing and handling' was the same price as the original product, so basically you are just paying for the extra necklace or bracelet which is going to most likely be 'processed and handled' in the same fu@King package as the original.

LE_Hopeful23

04-26-2011, 07:33 PM

also on amazon.com i ordered a couple of DVDs and it said that if i paid the extra money, it could get there in only a week instead of 6 weeks. well i was in no hurry to get the product so i just paid the regular price and decided to wait the six weeks. and what do ya know, the package got there in less than a week anyway, so i would have paid all that extra money for nothin!

Jiu-Jitsu Cop

04-27-2011, 01:14 AM

Did someone get burned on the old shipping and handling scam?????? ?)

stbspd

04-27-2011, 01:38 AM

Sham-wow....

mavriktu

04-27-2011, 08:05 AM

A web site I often go to www.1saleaday.com often has items for free,plus S&H,which is 99% of the time $4.99,which if it is an item I want 2 of,I dont really mind,what grabs me is when they come in the same package.,Duhhhhhh:rolleyes:

OneAdam12

04-27-2011, 11:11 AM

My point is apparently due to the millions of dollars these companies make, we are that stupid.

Is it the fact that the average person doesn't know how much actual shipping costs are?

Is it the fact the seller can set the handling charge at whatever price they want?

I have never bought anything this way but my folks have. It gets me so riled up.

Are there no consumer protection laws against exorbitant processing and handling charges?

Nothing beats a Sham-Wow when you have to clean hooker blood off the bathroom floor.

*ETA*
Also, another relevant quote (from one of my favorite comedians):
“I saw a product on late night tv. It said, "You can water your hard-to-reach plants with this product." Who the f*** would make their plants hard to reach?! I know you need water, but I'm gonna make you hard to reach. I will throw water at you. Hopefully they invent a product before you shrivel and die. And they said, you can have this product for four easy payments of $19.95. I would like to see a product that was available for three easy payments, and one f***in' complicated payment. We ain't gonna tell you which one it is, but one of these payments is gonna be a bitch: the mailman will get shot to death, the envelope will not seal, and the stamps will be in the wrong denomination...Good luck f***er! The last payment must be made in wompum!” - Mitch Hedberg

yangsTa

04-27-2011, 03:05 PM

But wait.... if you call in the next 10 minutes you get, not 1 - but 2, second one is FREE, just pay additional shipping and handling.

LOL! You just made my day.

FromOhio

04-27-2011, 04:42 PM

Somewhere out there is a woman who blew the Sham-Wow guy. Talk about living with a secret.

crass cop

04-27-2011, 09:07 PM

Yep...effing lame!
How about the 15% "restocking fee" less SH??? effing BOGUS!!!!
LG Outdoors. com is bad about that